The Wildrose phenomenon will disappear from the Alberta political scene almost as quickly as the party's leader took a powder after her concession speech at the golf club in Okotoks on Tuesday night.

Sure, we've all heard the promises about what a great opposition the Wildrose Party is going to make, how well leader Danielle Smith did to build it out of nothing in jig time, and how they'll be back in 2016 to really kick Tory ass. All talk, of course.

'Tis late and the CBC's pancake makeup weighs heavy on your blogger's face. As all the world must surely know by now, Alberta Premier Alison Redford's hole card turned out to be an ace yesterday and Alberta's 41-year Progressive Conservative dynasty will live a little longer, perhaps a lot longer.

So today there is no joy in Mudville -- whether that place is located in the town of Okotoks, site of the world's largest glacial erratic, or at 24 Sussex Drive -- for the Mighty Flanagan has struck out. You can almost hear the disgruntled Wildrosers chanting "45 years is enough!"

Astonished to find itself with its back against a Wildrose wall, rejected by its traditional supporters, Alberta's so-called Progressive Conservatives are putting the full-court press on New Democrats and Liberals to hold off a Wildrose Apocalypse by voting PC.

Polls suggest lots of voters are wavering. As a Conservative cabinet minister told me yesterday in Calgary Airport, many genuinely progressive voters in that town are seriously pondering holding their noses and voting Tory.

All I can say is "Don't do it, people!"

At a time like this, in a place like this, there’s no way a vote for the NDP is a throwaway. Au contraire!

With at least one poll showing the Progressive Conservatives under Alberta Premier Alison Redford and the Wildrose Party under Danielle Smith in a dead heat for support among decided voters, one has to ask where Ed Stelmach is now that the Tories really need him.

I mean, really, could it be any worse for the Alberta Tories with the hapless former premier at the helm? Very unlikely. Indeed, it sounds as if Stelmach gave up far too easily.

Another question the shambling Tories must suddenly be asking themselves is if they would have been better off if they'd chosen Gary Mar, the smooth old political operator they sidelined at the final moment in last fall's leadership race in favour of Redford's flavour-of-the-moment candidacy.

The time has come for the federal New Democratic Party to loosen up and let its rookie-rich Quebec caucus learn how to be good Members of Parliament right out there in public.

Yeah, there are risks in such a course of action. But there are risks in trying to control the caucus with an iron grip worthy of Prime Minister Stephen Harper as well, as the last few weeks of chatter about an NDP in "disarray," culminating in the Jan. 9 defection of Lise St. Denis to the faltering Liberals, have revealed.